Remembering JDH

As most of you have heard by now, longtime Model Railroader Senior Editor Jim Hediger passed away on February 9, 2024. He was a member of the staff for 43 years, and his HO scale Ohio Southern was one of the first — if not the first — practical examples of a double-deck model railroad. Readers shared their memories of Jim on our website and Facebook page in the days following his passing. It quickly became clear the impact Jim had on not only MR, but the model railroading hobby. The Jim that the public enjoyed was the same Jim we were fortunate enough to work with on a daily basis. When I joined the MR staff in 2002, Jim was already a well-established name in the hobby, entering his 30th year with the magazine. Jim, or

JDH as we called him, took a wide-eyed 22-year-old under his wing and helped me learn the ropes of the magazine and the hobby.

Since I was too young to rent a car in my early years with MR, I often accompanied veteran employees on road trips. One of my first was with Jim to visit John Underhill’s HO scale River Bend & Eastern RR in Granger, Ind. There, Jim walked me through the steps of layout photography.

During conventions and trade shows, Jim introduced me to key figures in our hobby. Former MR Editor Linn Westcott had done the same for Jim 30 years earlier.

Shortly after I shared word of Jim’s passing with former Kalmbach employees via e-mail, responses came pouring in. A common remembrance was Jim’s kindness and sincerity. I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of that several times.

I moved to Waukesha, Wis., about a month after I graduated from college. My closest family was 500 miles away. Jim would regularly invite me into his office to see how I was doing and talk for a few minutes. It was a simple act, but one that meant a lot.

I fondly remember our Tuesday night trips to the Mullet River & Southern Ry. hobby shop in Plymouth, Wis., about an hour north of MR’s Waukesha offices. We’d usually stop at KFC for a quick bite to eat before we head downtown to see what was new at the store.

I’m sure many of Jim’s

friends, co-workers, and industry associates have similar stories. When Jim retired in 2015, we wrote in the Kalmbach Publishing Co. newsletter, “It’s unlikely that anyone will ever equal Jim’s contributions to Model Railroader magazine. Our staff, past and present, and the tens of thousands of readers he has touched in one way or another during the past four decades, are fuller and richer hobbyists because of Jim.” I’ll second that opinion. Thank you, JDH!